Customising

My daughter happened to drop and break her games console a few months ago. My first port of call was a store doing repairs as well, but as it turns out a repair would have cost more than a second hand console. Little did I know how hard that second hand console would be to hunt down...there were several 'ground rules', like the fact she did not like pink, limegreen, white, brown etc.
As you can see on the photo the only one I could find that was in the best possible condition turned out to be - white. So I decided to 'upgrade' the decoration of the case from 'child' to 'teenage'. And she loves it!

No, we're not done yet

Yep, I'm afraid I still have quite a few ideas buzzing around my head that didn't make it onto the blog during the last 3 months...I will see if I can adapt them and make them into 'anyday'-ideas...
First of all - go and get your wrapping paper and cards reduced right now and stash them away for next december and see what you can find in the sales that will do for birthdays throughout the year. That's exactly what I will be doing...

The Stars of the Show, part I

Merry Christmas

The Stars of the Show, part II

The Stars of the Show, part III

Stamps

Today I needed a quick card for neighbours and stamps were my saving grace: Fast and easy. You can make your own stamps and I am not only talking about cutting shapes out of a potato half...
You can also cut your shapes out of rubber foam sheets and glue them to a cork or a block of wood. They are handy for last minute decorations or printing your own giftwrap.

Fruity Decoration

A way to make your house smell lovely is to use your fruit as artwork and shave some patterns into their peel with a zester.

Bunny

Cut out the upper body twice, the underside twice, the ears twice and the inside of the ears twice. You can use a cottonwool ball for the tail. Sew together inside out, leave an opening to turn right side out again, fill and sew closed. Eyes and nose can be embroidered.

Musical

Free printable sheet music for musicians can be found at http://www.music-scores.com/free/freesheetmusic.php for different instruments and stages.
For free piano sheet music try http://www.pianofiles.com/ where you can trade sheet music.
For the violin there's also http://violinsheetmusic.org/

e-Books

e-book-readers are the latest gadget and while e-books usually are cheaper than the printed version, in the case of a dedicated bookworm they can still add up. So here are some websites to try for free downloads:
http://www.gutenberg.net.au/greatest-books-a.html and go to 'Our free e-books'.(This is for the USA)
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
or try http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=amb_li...rd_i=434020031 and type in 'free e-books'.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/free has over 11000 free titles.

Stockingfiller

From the Cineworld Magazine

No, I have not gone 'Twihard' on you, but if you should have a 'Twihard' at home or in the family this is worth a shot: Print out bookmarks on cardstock or laminate them after printing and you'll have a fabulous stocking filler or a little gift for classmates and friends...
http://www.bellaandedward.com/graphics/bookmarks.php
There are lots to choose from and they are free. It also works for Harry Potter:
http://www.harrypotter.warnerbros.co.uk/diagonalley
Check out the downloads.

Rudolph

Draw the outline on card

Cover the template in a thin layer of glue, stick on fabric or leather, cut out and hang up.

Go Nuts

Put 250ml maple syrup and 4 tbsp brandy in a pot and heat gently for 3 minutes. Pour in 300g mixed shelled nuts and just warm through for 5 minutes. Fill into a large clean jar, seal and store in a cool place for up to 2 months.
Use with crumbles, ice cream, waffles, yoghurt, desserts, etc.

Chocolate Truffles

My daughter rolled these

You will need             200ml double cream
                                  75g light muscovado sugar
                                  250g best quality dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated
                                  pinch of sea salt

Line a baking tray with non-stick paper.
Put cream, sugar and salt in a pot on medium heat, bring to the boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Simmer gently for 1 minute.
Melt the chocolate by pouring the cream into it and stir until smooth.
Add your flavouring:
                                25g of chopped stem ginger
                          or   25g chopped candied orange peel
                          or   25g toasted dessicated coconut
                          or   2 tbsp of your favourite tipple (Brandy, Cognac, Amaretto,
                                Irish Liqueur, etc)
 Mix thoroughly and leave to set in the fridge for 2 hours.

Scoop one tsp of chocolate into your palm, roll it quickly into a ball, roll in coconut, chopped nuts, cocoa or icing sugar and put on the tray. Chill the truffles until firm.

This amount makes about 30+ truffles and chilled they keep for about 1 week.

Starshower

Take some thread and starstickers. Place them at regular intervals...



and put other stickers over them.

These look wonderful moving in a breeze. You can pin them over a windowframe in different lengths or into a corner of a room.

Stargarland

Cut a few stars out of gold or silver card (or any other that suits your decoration) and stick thin gold thread on the back with sticky tape.

Small Doll

A knitted doll filled with wool fleece is sturdier for playing with than felt. The knit should not be too loose. The basic form is a 'T' and moss stitch at the base keeps the doll standing up.

Instrument

Tie some bells onto a leather strip with spaced out holes in it.

Hedgehog

A hedgehog, made like a fingerpuppet: Knit the body and sew it under a piece of fluffy fabric.

Lanterns

Out of a square piece of transparent paper

a LOT of folding

makes a star lantern.

Pop a tealight inside. Paper coloured with crayons and then oiled looks great as well. I know them as 'Waldorf-Lanterns' and have made lots of them in my time.

(Michaela Kronshage, 'Laternenzeit', Verlag Freies Geistesleben)

Photobookmark

One of Utes'

Take a photograph, fold in half and create a sharp crease with a bonefolder or your fingernail, glue together (use glue suitable for photographs) and punch a hole at the bottom. Add a ribbon. Most people have surplus photos somewhere for an easy 'make' like this. You could personalise it by using one that means something to the recipient or even one of the recipient.

Use whatever comes to hand, part II

I had these strings of beads in the house and didn't know what to do with them up to now. Now they became my hall decoration.

Gardeners'

Get creative with wood. This is supposed to be a woodpecker  made by my daughter. For the green gardener you can drill many tiny holes into the ends of the wood for insects to 'move into'.

Last minute Cards

Card and glitter glue

These are very simple, you could do them single handedly (literally, as I scalded three fingers of my left hand today - it's hot water, stupid).

Dolly 3

The body is basically a "bag" with arms, hands and head are explained in "Felt!". This is for younger children, it is easier to grab and good to cuddle in a soft velvet fabric.

Reuse what comes to hand

Another easy one, if not totally PC...take the top off a can and use for decorations. Keep out of reach of children though. You can pop it in the recycling afterwards.

Christmastree

This one is very simple - take a sheet of foam rubber, halve it and cut out your treeshape twice. Then cut along the middle, one halfway up, the other halfway down and slot them together.

Rosehip Chutney

My Gran always made her own rosehip & rowanberry jam and it was delicious. Rosehips are full of vitamin C and once deseeded and cooked perfectly edible.

This chutney is made of  750g deseeded and washed rosehips,
                                     chopped in a food processor
                                     8 tbsp of water
                                     125g of sultanas
                                     200g of sugar
                                     200g of diced onions
                                     1/4 l of cider vinegar
                                     salt, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger and
                                     mustard powder

Simmer for 35 minutes and fill into sterilized jars.

Cranberry Liqueur

Simmer 340g of Cranberries with 200g of sugar and 100ml Cassis for about 2-3 minutes. Add 0.75 l white rum and stir. Sift after 3 weeks and fill into a sterilized bottle.

Rolypoly

Cut a piece of strong cardboard tube,close the top end with strong cardboard, glue fabric and 'hair' on and a felt hat.
 Cut out the body and hand twice, sew together apart from an opening for the head.
Put a heavy ballbearing into the tube, glue it shut with strong cardboard and glue the head into the opening of the body.

This fella slowly rolls head over heels down any incline .

The Winter King

This decoration is made out of a felt body and silk for a cape. Hair and beard are made of brushed silk and the body is filled with wool fleece. His crown was cut from silverfoil and his sceptre is a skewer wrapped in tinfoil.
The pattern is similar to the "Felt Fella" (Felt!).

Spinning Top

This is an easy spinning top made from a wooden disc with a hole

drilled in the middle, a wooden stick pushed through that's

sharpened on the bottom, and coloured with crayons.

Fingerpuppets

This is just one character of the fingerpuppets I knitted for the children - they have a hunter, a princess, a king, a magician,.....It only takes about 20 stitches knitted on a set of needles in a round.

Victorian

Take strips of nice paper

and fold them into a globe. Stapel together, add thread to hang up.

You can use any kind of paper for these decorations and add a tassel at the bottom if it is not too heavy.

Coffee Syrup

For anyone who likes their lattes here is a quick recipe for gingerbread syrup:

                                   2 cups of water
                                   2 cups of sugar
                                   1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
                                   1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of gingerbread spice

Simmer the sugar and water and stir continuously until the sugar is completely dissolved, add vanilla extract and spice (depending upon how strongly you want to flavour the syrup) and fill into a sterilized bottle
(wash in very hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly, dry and put into a hot oven for a bit - take care and use tongs to remove them). Add a pretty label.
Alternatively you can flavour the syrup with 1/2 cup of caramel syrup or pureed raspberries or some hazelnut liqueur or just with the vanilla .

Ornaments

Take gold or silver card,



cut into strips,



bend into shape and staple the ends together.

You can use coloured card, images from calendars or photostrips glued onto another layer of card and add thread to hang the ornaments up.